Tucson Garden Railway Society s December, 2008 The Meeting this month is the

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1 Tucson Garden Railway Society s Time Table Society web site: Editor jmiller66@cox.net December, 2008 The Meeting this month is the Christmas Party at HomeTown Buffet on Oracle and River The address is 5101 N Oracle Rd. December 6th starting at noon. Engine for Childrens Museum From Ibby Ulmer On Saturday, November 1, Nick Buchholz, Bob Conrad, Jim Miller, Glenn Mitchell, Dick Izen and Chuck Taylor gathered at Norm Ulmer's house to work on the Engine that will go into the Children's Museum. It involved a lot of sawing, drilling, screwing, sanding, painting and such, but much was accomplished in a few hours. The engine is designed for the kids to get inside of and see how a real train engine works. TGRS Christmas Party It will be at the Hometown Buffet on Oracle Saturday December 6th beginning at noon. The cost is $10/person. Ruth will take advance payments by mail (check only) or at the November meeting. She will also take payments at the door. Mail Checks to: Ruth Taylor 4081 S. Tarantula Hawk Place Tucson, AZ There will be a gift exchange. If you would like to participate in the gift exchange please bring a gift. The rules of the gift exchange. One gift per family with a limit of $10 and steals limited to two. 1 Norm Ulmer is holding the bell on the locomotive's boiler. At this stage the cab is still held together by clamps and we still need the boiler jacketing and to mount the wheels but the locomotive is taking shape. Elevated Layout By Dick Izen Ibby Ulmer has told you about the progress being made on the crawl through locomotive and the work day at Norm and Ibby s. I want to update you about another aspect of the Tucson Children s Museum project, the elevated train loop.

2 As you may know the train gallery room currently has a traveling exhibit and we can only work in the room on Mondays when the museum is closed. Nick Buchholz and I had the acrylic cut for the roadbed and glued the supports and side walls to stiffen the pieces. Our first workday was November 3, when Chuck Taylor, Willis Fagg, Nick and I placed the two large triangular pieces on the south wall. These pieces will support the curves and are large enough to support some scenery. We also helped Glenn Mitchell load the box in which the museum s TV is mounted into his truck. He took it home to install the control panel and the momentum circuit. November 10 th saw all five of us back at the museum (Glenn brought back the installed electronics and stayed to help our crew.) The first order of business was mounting the 36 feet of backdrops that will form the scenery on the west, south and part of the east walls. We are using 24 feet of photo mural depicting the rolling Arizona desert hill around Wickenburg. The other 12 feet depict the Union Pacific yard in Salt Lake City (we couldn t find a photo mural with an Arizona yard). The first step was trimming the photo murals and cutting them to length to fit the walls. The first photo mural is on the wall and Willis Fagg (left) is carefully affixing a length of the second one. That s Chuck Taylor (center) steadying the ladder and Nick Buchholz smoothing the joint from a step stool (right). Once the Wickenburg murals were up we moved to the Union Pacific yard. It s hard to see in the small picture below but the U. P. shield emblem is prominent atop the three story building. The yellow points in the bottom of the pictures are part of the traveling exhibit that we had moved away from the wall. Chuck Taylor trims one of the Wickenburg backdrops. Next we masked the wall above and below the backdrop s position. We used spray glue both on the wall and the back of the backdrop. Then the backdrops were carefully affixed to the walls. U. P. s Salt Lake yard installed on the east and south walls. 2

3 THE SOUTHERN ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM APPRECIATES THE GRANT WE RECEIVED FROM TGRS WHICH ENABLED US TO ERECT A TROLLEY EXHIBIT IN OUR GIFT SHOP. KEN KARRELS CHAIRMAN S.A.T.M. Rails in the Garden FYI, this year s Rails in the Garden phone # (to request info) is: Also, we have set up a RITG address: ritg@tucsongrs.org. Glenn Completed south wall, with yard on left, hills on right and false front buildings in between. With the backdrops in place we completed the roadbed on the south wall and used three false front buildings to transition between the desert hill and the yard. Some green paint over the buildings will help complete the transition between the scenes. Once done with the south wall we installed three sections of roadbed along the west wall under the desert mural. Next Monday (the 17 th ) we plan to complete the west wall and work along the east wall. If there is sufficient time we will also begin to cut into the north wall for our tunnel portals. Overall, I think the crew is pleased with the progress we are making and expect to be ready for track and wiring soon. THE SOUTHERN ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM Steve Anderson in front of the Trolley exhibit at the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum Gift Shop. SOUTHERN ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM HOLIDAY EXPRESS AT THE DEPOT Saturday, December 13, :00 AM to 1:00 PM The Southern Arizona Transportation Museum located at the Historic Depot (restored SP depot) at 414 N. Toole Avenue is hosting its 4 th annual Holiday Express event. The event, held at trackside at the Train Depot is free and is open to the public starting at 10 am and lasting until 1 pm. The contact person is Denyse Leventman at Other information can be found at At 10:30 Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive at the Locomotive on a big shiny Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Purchase a family photo with Santa and Locomotive 1673 as a backdrop. Continuous throughout the event will be the Soup Tasting Contest. Local downtown restaurants will participate with their best culinary soup creations. Judging to determine the best soup in downtown will be by Mayor Walkup with the winner announced at noon. Soup in bread bowls will be available for purchase. Other continuous activities will be a jumping castle, train rides on the Fun Farm Choo-Choo, writing a letter to Santa with the assistance of the Romance Writers of Tucson, stamp craft activities under the direction of the Postal History Foundation and story time at the Depot including the reading of the Polar Express by volunteers from the Tucson-Pima County s Main Downtown Library. Enjoy the sounds of the season provided by the strolling carolers from the Magnet High School choir throughout the event. From 12:00 noon to 1 pm the Tender Strings Chamber Ensemble will perform. Watch and hear Locomotive 1673 come alive with Sound and Steam along with the ringing of its bell, throughout the event. At 1 pm the drawing for the Aristocraft Christmas Train set raffle will be held and the winner announced. 3

4 At 2.00PM the Fox Tucson Theater Foundation once again presents the movie, Polar Express. Call or 10 am to 5 pm an artisan show hosted by Autumn Moon Promotions will be set up at the depot for holiday shopping. More parking than ever before! Free parking surrounds the Depot since metered parking is always free on Saturday. Parking is also available in the Pennington Garage (just north of Congress on Scott Avenue). The garage is just a block and a half from the Depot. You can also make the holidays better for some needy families by bringing a new and unwrapped gift or child or adult diapers to the event. These items will go to the From One Mother To Another charity organization. Photos from the November meeting at Gary and Peggy Martin s, with the open house and buffet it was a memorable event, thank you. Minutes of the November 15, 2008 Meeting Respectfully submitted by Ellen Stoesser The meeting was held at the home of Gary & Peggy Martin Norm thanked them for hosting There were 67 attendees, we also had one guest. Minutes of the October meeting were approved. There was a correction in the Time Table about the height of Klein Matterhorn, It is only 12763, and it just felt like Vice President s Report: Willis Fagg reported about our upcoming events: Veterans Hospital: He needs more volunteers for set up and to run the trains. There was a sign up sheet for this. There was a sign up sheet for the downtown Festival of Lights. The dates are: December and and On 12/14/2008 the hours are 3-7:00 p.m.; all the rest of the dates the hours are 11-3:00 p.m. th Christmas Party is December 6 at noon. Money will still be collected at the door. This will be at Hometown Buffet and the cost of the lunch is $ Members need to sign up in order to reserve the 2 rooms. We have our reservation already in for th Gadsden-Pacific has a December 13 show planned. The hours are 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. th Pima County Fair will be held April Willis is still trying to contact Peggy. Willis will have sign up sheets starting in January and end in midmarch; we need to sign up early to get our free passes. Treasurer s Report: Ruth Taylor reported: 1. Checking account balance 11/15/08 $10,

5 2. Reserve account balance 11/15/08 17, Total on deposit $27, Revenues from 10/19/08 $ Expenses from 10/19/08 1, Net revenues from 10/19/08 ($1,283.44) 5. YEAR TO DATE RECAP: 6. Revenues to date $14, * 7. Expenses to date 4, Net revenue $9, *Includes $11, revenue from Convention 9. Total dues received $1, The 3 main expenses were RITG-Southern AZ Transp. Museum, TMC. We have invested $6, in 12 month CD S 11. The treasurer s report was approved. Editor s Report: Jim Miller reported things were going well and if you have any articles or pictures, please submit them. We are going to incorporate links to our sister clubs. Membership Committee: Ibby Ulmer reported we have 83 members. Social Committee: Norm thanked Dale Cover for having his Open House on Thursday. There will not be a Social Luncheon in December. Chuck Cook is working on a bus trip to San Diego in May or June. TBG: Gary didn t have any information on Luminary Night. Bob Conrad showed us a car that Thorn Pierce had painted for him. Old Business: A. Convention Report: The books are closed on the 2008 Convention. Ace Hardware has sold a case of trains for us and Roy Eberbach bought one, only 12 more to go. B. Rails in the Garden: Glenn Mitchell reported we are in the Garden Railways and the Gazette. Jerry Tulino is updating the website. Packets will be ready to give for gifts. C. UMC Children s Hospital Norm reported that Vicky Begen (Vice President of Woman s and Children s Services) will be at our 2/14/08 meeting at RCW RV park with a slide show and posters for the County Fair. They will be tearing down the book store and gift shop. Andy Skikos from Tempe is the consultant on this job. D. Tucson Children s Museum: Dick reported that there will be articles in the newsletter to keep us updated. The elevated loop going great and the circuit monitor is in the box. He had a photo of the engine; the kids will be able to crawl through this. Dick had a sign up sheet for members who want to build the flats. The wall is The buildings can be 2-4 deep and high. There will be a 4 ½ base for them to sit on. New Business: A. Chef for a Day Jerry will be checking on getting a date to do this again in June or July. He will report back in January about the date. B. St Marks-----Bob Dirksen is looking for help with this event. C. Cal Calhoun wanted to know if he went to a smaller gauge, could he still belong to the club? He would like to go to a smaller gauge because of space. D. Kirk Lander had a battery burn up his on board receiver, he sent it to Aristo-Craft and they replaced it for nothing. Holiday Express: Ken Karrels let us know it will be held on 12/13/08 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. There is free admission. Local artisan show-10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. They will be showing the Polar Express with Tom Hanks at the Fox Theater Events: Big Train Bus Tour in San Diego--- June 2009 Big Train Show Ontario Convention Center---June 6 & Garden Railway--- Denver Convention---July 7-14, 2009 The next regular meeting will be our Christmas Party at Hometown Buffet at 12:00 p.m. Minutes of November BOD Meeting Respectfully submitted by Ellen Stoesser November 11, :00 P.M. at the home of Norm and Ibby Ulmer All Board members were present except 1 Pres. Norm thanked Ibby for hosting Minutes of the Sept. meeting were approved. Treasurer s Report: Ruth Taylor reported: 1. Checking account balance 11/11/08 $11, Reserve account balance 11/11/08 17, Total on deposit $28, Revenues from 10/19/08 $ Expenses from 10/19/08 1, Net revenues from 8/15/08 $(879.36) 5. YEAR TO DATE RECAP: 6. Revenues to date $14, * 7. Expenses to date 4, Net revenue $10, *Includes $11, 718, 99 revenue from Convention 9. Total dues received $1, The treasurer s report was approved. 11. A motion was made and approved to put $3,000 in a 12 month CD and 3 months later put another $3,000 in another 12 month CD. This would be evaluated in 6 months. 5

6 Vice Presidents Events: Willis Fagg reported there is still no progress in getting in contact with Peggy at the County Fair. There are 13 people signed up for the Christmas Party. We will people to get a head count. Willis will reserve the date for Willis also had sign up sheets for the VA, as he needs more volunteers. Newsletter: Jim Miller reported it was going well. Dick Izen was wondering if the pictures could be made bigger in the 2 column format or could we use one column format? Nick Buchholz will work with Jim on this. Social Luncheon: There will be a luncheon and train viewing on Thursday (November 13) at Dale Cover s. The viewing will be at Dale s and go to lunch afterward. Membership Committee: Ibby reported that we have 82 paid members. In her article in the Time Table there was an extra 0 in her numbers of the height of the Matterhorn. There will be a round-a-bout in Sonoita, followed by a lunch at the Fire house. This will be held by Peter & Julie Firos and George & Peggy Wagoner. The date will be determined later. Old Business: A. Convention Report: Norm reported that Ace has sold a case of the convention cars that were on consignment for us. With the refund from the sales tax from Chandler we have closed the books on the convention. B. UMC Hospital: Norm reported that Vicky will make a slide presentation at the February meeting at the RCWRV Park. She will have posters for us to use at the County Fair. We should be able to start our part of the project in Sept. or Oct. of C. Tucson Children s Museum: Dick reported that the locomotive and elevated loops are going well. D. Ken Karrels is getting the price of the Phoenix sound system. Willis is getting the rolling stock, Upland is having a hard time filling our order. Bryon Skinner donated track for the project. Glenn has the circuits completed but he needs the cars to check the voltage. We will have the grand opening in January, the same month as Union Pacific meets to decide the reception of it s grants. Union Pacific will announce the recipients in January. E. Building flats: There is lots of room for these as the wall is 141/2 ft. to 18 ft. There will be a strip of wood for the building to sit on. The strip will be 41/2 wide If anyone is interested in building a flat or two, it would be appreciated. Dick will have a sign up sheet for this. F. LED display: There will be 2 of these. They will be covered in acrylic and will be in 2 languages. G Rails in the Garden: Glenn Mitchell reported that the cell phone has been activated for the event. It has been activated for 4 months at a cost of $ The number is The Tucson map is done and the individual maps are being worked on. Nick will print the tickets; they will not have the little boxes this time. There will then be a stapling session to staple the tickets to the maps. There are over 600 people on the mailing list. Glenn would like help with the publicity end of the event. New Business: A. Norm will talk to Sanders about date of the January meeting as the Swap Meet is on the 17 th of January. B. Nick said he got a copy of Rainbow Ridge newsletter from Sue Piper (editor) and this began a discussion of getting a link with them and other newsletters to connect to our website. There was no date for the next board meeting. Adobe Mountain Railroad Park Model Railroad Adventure, Steam-Up, and Swap Meet 21 st of March 2009, their big spring event North 43 rd Avenue in Phoenix. This club has over 7 miles of track and they will be giving rides at this event. Want Ads Received this on the club web site. She has a large inventory of HO to sell. From: Linda Ryburn [mailto:linda.ryburn06@comcast.net] Tucson Garden Railway Society, My name is Linda Ryburn and I am contacting you because I have a rather large model train collection that I must sell and thought the TGRS members may be interested. I am hoping that you can help me out on this. The collection consists of Athearn, Atlas, AHM, Walters, Lionel, Marklin, Accurail, InterMountain, and Roundhouse. Ninety-five percent of the collection is new and has never been out of the box. I am attaching an excel spreadsheet that lists the entire collection and what was paid for each item. If any of your members are interested in any part of the collection, please have them contact me at my address. Thank you for your time. Regards, Linda Ryburn 6

7 Folks, I have a spare G Gauge Aristo- Craft Sierra three car Christmas passenger set in like new condition (except for points noted below) and a two axle Christmas tank car which I would like to donate to a good home (preferably one with a youngster who loves trains). There are three passenger cars in the set, viz.: 1) Combine 2) Passenger Car (with a couple missing windows) 3) Observation Car (with a damaged truck frame) If you or someone you know is interested, pass along this and ask him/her to contact me. Jim White James Wm. White, Ph.D., P.E W. Starr Pass Blvd. Tucson, AZ OFF: HOM: FAX: MOB: A Big Welcome to New Members George Wagoner and his wife Peggie, actually they were members before, but let their membership lapse and now have joined us again. They are neighbors of Pete and Julie Firos and the two of them are talking about having a round-a-bout down there with a meeting at the Fire House. 7

8 Ann Shibuya. She has a layout and is interested in eggliners. She is a friend of Ryan McCabe's which is where she heard about us. Joseph, Laura, Ashing (age 10) and Liam (age 8) Whelan. Liam is the train buff. He is interested in Steam. They are from Oregon and first saw garden railroads in Portland. They found us on the Web. Electronic News Letter With so many new members, I want to remind you that you can have the news letter delivered by e- mail. The club saves printing and postage costs but more importantly you get the news letter faster and can view the photos in color. To join the mailing list send an to members-subscribe@tucsongrs.org; include your name and a simple message like "I am a new TGRS member and would like to join the mailing list". The Tucson Garden Railway Society is a non-profit corporation incorporated in Pima County, Arizona. Society members are interested in all areas of garden and modular large scale railroading. We welcome new members and hope you will consider joining. Members help each other build layouts and learn about railroading and modeling. The TGRS dues are $30.00 per year and are due on June 30 th of each year. For new members dues are pro-rated at $2.50 per month remaining in the year until June 30 th plus a $15.00 initiation fee, the first year. Additional name badges cost $1.00 for each badge after the first. If you are interested in the TGRS please contact one of the officers at the phone number listed below. If you wish to join immediately, send a check and your name, address and telephone number and the names for any additional badges to: Ibby Ulmer 4935 N. Craycroft Road Tucson, AZ Calendar of Events Dec 6 Christmas Party Dec Festival of Lights 8-9 & Layout at the Veterans Hospital Dec Veterans Hospital Jan 17 TTOM Swap Meet Jan 24 Jay & Sallie Sanders Feb 14 Rincon Country West RV Park Mar 7&8 RITG Mar 21 Tucson Botanical Gardens Apr Pima County Fair May 16 Rick & Sue Gast TGRS Officers and Board of Directors President:....Norm Ulmer At Large Board Members V-President: Willis Fagg Jim Cook Secretary:....Ellen Stoesser Chuck Cook Treasurer:.Ruth Taylor Nick Buchholz Editor:...Jim Miller Bob Dirksen Tucson Garden Railway Society 8132 E. Baker Dr. Tucson, AZ